At 10:48 AM this morning of June 12th, one of our European representatives and the Managing Editor for Bitcoin Magazine, Mihai Alisie, arrived at the post office to claim 3 large and lately arrived shipments of the Bitcoin Magazine from customs.

Entering the offices and presenting his claim form, a middle-aged Customs Officer began to collect and sort the packages. Both nervous of the condition of the magazines and any taxes or restrictions on the shipment, our Mihai waited patiently as the customs officer sorted through his papers. One box was sealed in a thick plastic bagging indicating some damage. It was this box that the officer chose for Mihai to open.

Handing him a knife, he was instructed to cut the bag open. Clearing the plastic out of the way the officer then cut the box open himself to reveal the contents. Mihai grew more nervous, knowing that the front of the magazine would not only be the face of a guy fawkes mask, but of him behind the mask as well. As he cut the box open, sure enough, the officer noticed the notorious imagery and began a dialogue that will now go down in the history of Bitcoin Magazine.

“What is this?”, the Customs Officer asked.“Magazines. They’re collectible.” Mihai responded, pointing to the QR code on the cover.

The officer began to cut the other boxes open as well. Upon cutting open all three boxes, the officer returned to the first box where he took out a magazine and started to look inside. Another younger Customs Officer having seen the cover, approached the first officer as he inquired, “What will you do with these? Are you planning on selling them?”.

“No, just sending them to people”. Mihai began to grow a bit nervous. Would his long awaited shipment be confiscated by customs for some technicality? Would be put on a terrorist watchlist in the country of Romania? Would he have to pay an insane amount of taxes just to keep the shipments to our loyal readers going? Mihai’s mind raced as he pondered the numerous possibilities, but he could never have been prepared for what came next.

I get shit stopped at the customs all the time and I never had to go there to collect it. I just email them what they ask and wait for the postman to bring it to my door.This is the 21st century, you know?

But well, I can never give them a present when I do this, that's true lol I suppose they would have a problem if my packages arrived to my door with less stuff

Shouldn't it say the name of the country this happened in somewhere early in the narration? Customs varies greatly around the world.

Companies claiming they got hacked and lost your coins sounds like fraud so perfect it could be called fashionable. I never believe them. If I ever experience the misfortune of a real intrusion, I declare I have been honest about the way I have managed the keys in Casascius Coins. I maintain no ability to recover or reproduce the keys, not even under limitless duress or total intrusion. Remember that trusting strangers with your coins without any recourse is, as a matter of principle, not a best practice. Don't keep coins online. Use paper or hardware wallets instead.

At 10:48 AM this morning of June 12th, one of our European representatives and the Managing Editor for Bitcoin Magazine, Mihai Alisie, arrived at the post office to claim 3 large and lately arrived shipments of the Bitcoin Magazine from customs.

Entering the offices and presenting his claim form, a middle-aged Customs Officer began to collect and sort the packages. Both nervous of the condition of the magazines and any taxes or restrictions on the shipment, our Mihai waited patiently as the customs officer sorted through his papers. One box was sealed in a thick plastic bagging indicating some damage. It was this box that the officer chose for Mihai to open.

Handing him a knife, he was instructed to cut the bag open. Clearing the plastic out of the way the officer then cut the box open himself to reveal the contents. Mihai grew more nervous, knowing that the front of the magazine would not only be the face of a guy fawkes mask, but of him behind the mask as well. As he cut the box open, sure enough, the officer noticed the notorious imagery and began a dialogue that will now go down in the history of Bitcoin Magazine.

“What is this?”, the Customs Officer asked.“Magazines. They’re collectible.” Mihai responded, pointing to the QR code on the cover.

The officer began to cut the other boxes open as well. Upon cutting open all three boxes, the officer returned to the first box where he took out a magazine and started to look inside. Another younger Customs Officer having seen the cover, approached the first officer as he inquired, “What will you do with these? Are you planning on selling them?”.

“No, just sending them to people”. Mihai began to grow a bit nervous. Would his long awaited shipment be confiscated by customs for some technicality? Would be put on a terrorist watchlist in the country of Romania? Would he have to pay an insane amount of taxes just to keep the shipments to our loyal readers going? Mihai’s mind raced as he pondered the numerous possibilities, but he could never have been prepared for what came next.

You Bastard! You know damn well that after reading such a well written post I, and others, are going to click that damn link to your (insert curse word here) Bitcoin Magazine online site. Now, I have to read the rest of the story, then head back here to read the rest of the posts of this thread. Then comment. Can't you see that I'm a busy guy, worrying about RandFold's health and all, that I don't have time for this? At any rate, a damn good post, and can't wait to read the rest, bud. Later.

What surprises me most is that they're shipping the magazines to Romania to be resent to the European customers who paid for them. Great management, no doubt.

Before someone calls me crazy let me make a small comparison:

I ordered 21 Casascius coins from Mike around the same time Mike got his Bitcoin Magazine and they're were sent on May 29 and I got them on June 5.

Mike got his Magazine on May 25 on the US. European customers are still waiting for Mihai Alisie to ship them what they paid for.

Also, great job communicating with the European customers who were complaiting all this time about not getting the magazines.Maybe some are 1st class customers and others are 2nd or 3rd class ones lol

Ah, I can see where your confusion is. Mihai's shipment is for -new- orders, not pre-orders. As in, we've been sending them out at a -large- loss of profit one-by-one directly from the printers up until now because Mihai didn't have his box yet. We believed it would arrive soon though by a tip-off from customs a few days ago and have only held EU orders since -then-. "Great management" was an accurate assessment imo.

Zzzz bastard. I saw this news article pop up on facebook and it looked like it was saying that customs were searching for actual bitcoins now or something. I thought they were working on capital controls -_-;

Ooh no, just some romanians who got a kick out of bitcoin magazine -_-

I get shit stopped at the customs all the time and I never had to go there to collect it. I just email them what they ask and wait for the postman to bring it to my door.This is the 21st century, you know?

But well, I can never give them a present when I do this, that's true lol I suppose they would have a problem if my packages arrived to my door with less stuff